Practically Chic: Does style really matter in these mid-size schleppers armed with just four cylinders and slushboxes?

For all the ascendance of crossovers—certainly the most amoebic of all automotive classifications—mid-size sedans continue to be one of autodom’s biggest sales categories. There are many reasons for this—all-around family usefulness, resistance to the swollen SUV bulk of crossovers, respectable fuel economy—but double-take glamour is rarely one of them.

This mid-size dedication to stylistic timidity has always mystified us. Given a choice between two implements that function with more or less equal efficiency, wouldn’t you be inclined to pick the one that looks the best? This is not a trick question. As a Detroit design chief observed long ago, “If practicality was all that mattered, they’d have to put a roof over Kalamazoo so they could build enough Checkers to satisfy demand.”

Checker sedans were terrific taxicabs. But their mass-market appeal was limited. Kalamazoo was never in danger of requiring a big roof, and the factory shut down in 1982.

It’s true that several purveyors of mid-size sedans have tried to raise the curbside wattage of recent offerings—the Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion, Mazda 6, Nissan Altima, and even the Toyota Camry have all snazzed up a couple of notches compared with their predecessors. But how many actually turn heads? Very few; none, maybe. Staying visible in a 15-minutes-of-fame society requires some risk taking. Daring. Chutzpah.

The 2006–’10 Hyundai Sonata played to solid reviews that praised, in particular, its extensive array of standard features and a marked improvement in overall quality. But it’s safe to say that the styling failed to provoke any oohs or aahs. Responses were more of the ho and hum variety.

If you’ve been following our previews and show coverage on our website, or if you saw Hyundai’s myriad Super Bowl commercials, you already know that the Sonata, like the ugly duckling, has matured into a handsome swan. If it’s not the sleekest thing in its class, we’d like to know what is.

How does the 2011 Sonata grade out on the full report card? The quickest way to place it in the mid-size-sedan continuum is to pit it against a couple of prominent players in this class. The new Subaru Legacy—redesigned inside and out for 2010—needed to be on the menu since it has yet to be tested against its peer group. And, of course, we had to include the reigning mid-size champ—the Honda Accord, a perennial 10Best Cars titlist (24 trophies in 28 years) and winner of our last three mid-size showdowns.

The group’s specifications were constrained by the Sonata’s powertrain limitations. The Accord and the Legacy both offer six-cylinder options, but the new Sonata’s only engine, at least for now, is a naturally aspirated four-cylinder; a manual transmission comes only in the base model. Thus we specified automatics and fours in all three cars—a combination that accounts for a little more than 80 percent of the mid-size, mid-price sedan market.

Our Sonata was the slightly sportier SE model. We requested a midrange Accord EX, and the Legacy was a basic 2.5i with a CVT automatic. Base prices ranged from $20,690 (for the Subaru) to $24,540 (the Honda).

Could one of these newbies knock the Accord off its throne? We assembled our threesome in Southern California to find out.